Say it's not
true – can't – not with a straight face
Set-up for this post, selective parts to fit here – check the link –
very good read.
On
April 2, Mike Cernovich, a self-described member of the “Alt-right,” claimed in
a post on Medium that the “White House Counsel’s office identified Susan Rice,
former Obama NSC chief adviser, as the person responsible for the unmasking” of
Trump officials caught in surveillance of foreign officials after examining
Rice’s document log requests.”
The
claim then spread among fringe outlets such as The Gateway Pundit – which
said the unmasking “was purely for political purposes” – and Infowars (Alex Jones conspiracy nutcase show) and then
spread via posts on 4Chan and Reddit.
As
the claim started getting pickup on Twitter, Kellyanne Conway, counselor
to the president, promoted
Cernovich with a tweet linking to the main page of his Medium blog. Then the
next day, Donald Trump. Jr praised
Cernovich for “breaking the #SusanRice story”).
This
sort of right-wing criticism of mainstream media’s coverage will likely ramp
up, thus possibly spurring some mainstream outlets to defend their coverage or
possibly tweak some of their framing under pressure.
This
is the new media ecosystem in the Trump era.
No
longer are these false claims all originating in traditional right-wing media
before mainstream outlets give in to pressure to cover them. Now they can
start from these fringe pro-Trump propaganda outlets, with right-wing media
picking them up. Meanwhile, members of the “Alt-right” continue to gain more prominence
and acceptance in traditional conservative and conservative media circles.
Radio
host Rush Limbaugh, while hyping
the Rice story, (1) bragged that mainstream media outlets are “not the arbiters
anymore,” (2) then whitewashed the original source of the story, Cernovich, calling
him simply a “pro-Trump blogger,” and (3) then concluded that CBS 60 Minutes
“tried to destroy Cernovich” – all the while he criticized mainstream outlets
for dismissing the story because it was pushed by right-wing media.
This
is not the first example of misinformation following such a trajectory from practically
a simple forum or Talk Radio post or statement, or by some tweeter or blogger.
Then kapow, it takes off ending with Fox and major Talk Shows like Limbaugh.
For
example, in March, after a federal judge in Hawaii placed a hold on Trump’s revised
Muslim ban, fringe “Alt-right” outlets such as Infowars and Gateway Pundit pushed
a conspiracy theory that appeared to have started on Reddit alleging that
Obama conspired with the judge for that decision.
That
claim (w/o any proof, evidence, or facts) then spread
among fake
news purveyors,
then pushed
by Donald
Trump Jr. just before it broke into more
traditional conservative media figures and outlets like Hannity
and the Independent
Journal Review, et al.
Later
that same month, in order to back up Trump’s false claim that Obama wiretapped
Trump Tower, Infowars then dubiously
claimed it had NSA documents that provided the proof. The claim in turn
made its way around other “Alt-right” outlets and fake news purveyors – then winding
up being pushed at
the top of the Drudge Report.
This
is the real danger that the new media environment presents.
The
fringe is no longer simply siloed. It has actively been
raised into the mainstream by pro-Trump forces both known and unknown.
It has been repeatedly validated by both mainstream reporters and especially an
administration that has no hesitation about lying to the world.
It
is crucial that mainstream media outlets understand
this new environment and the kind of claims and conspiracy theories it puts
forth. It is one thing to share the mainstream with extremist cranks,
propagandists, liars, or worse, but it's another thing to succumb and do their
pro-Trump misinforming for them by falling into their trap as it were thus
adding to their fake credibility passing as valuable and valid news that we all
seek and need.
So,
are the media mainstreamers on board with their critical role and duty in all this? One seriously wonders.
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